Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with learning disabilities can access work experience opportunities.

The department is committed to ensuring that young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have equitable access to work experience opportunities.

Data published by the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) provides evidence of an increase in positive outcomes for young people with SEND. SEND settings are outperforming mainstream institutions against Gatsby Benchmark 6, ‘experiences of workplaces’, with 77% of special schools reporting that the majority of learners had experience of workplaces by the end of year 11, increasing to 88% in year 12 or 13. By comparison, in mainstream schools 76% of students had an experience of a workplace by the end of year 11, rising to 84% in year 12 or year 13.

Our work experience guarantee will ensure that all pupils are provided with two weeks' worth of work experience over the course of their secondary education by the end of this Parliament. These opportunities must be inclusive and accessible for all young people with learning disabilities in schools across England.

Through our delivery partner, CEC, we are piloting the delivery of this guarantee. This includes testing a ringfenced ‘disadvantage premium’ to assist schools with the costs of work experience for disabled pupils, such as transportation and assisted travel, and the development of a virtual work experience platform to improve the accessibility of opportunities. Piloting work began in October 2024 with end of pilot reporting in August 2025.